Would you like to take a little studio tour with me for a moment? You will enjoy it, I promise. This is the new studio space of a talented friend in Boston, Fernanda Bourlet, a native of Buenos Aires with a sensibility for all things modern, natural, neutral and of course with a nod to her culture and relaxed lifestyle in Argentina. She recently moved from a few blocks over to this open space in the South End on Thayer Street and spent a month renovating it from top to bottom -- literally speaking. She painted the floors, had to completely rewire the place with electricity, install new HVAC ducts, you name it - this space was born out of love and a lot of hard work! Not to mention what you see IN the space -- most of it, with the exception of furniture some props and of course vintage finds, was designed and hand crafted by Fernanda and her team of makers based in Boston. See the pendants below with the lovely layers? I plan to buy one or two when I move for my home and she will ship to Germany so yay! for that. Are they not gorgeous?

I own several beautiful items from her line, Simplemente Blanco, and I cherish them all. From hard carved soaps and soap petals to bath salts, pillows, lighting, curtains, textiles, Fernanda designs only the best and the prices reflect her passion for making beautiful things accessible -- while you may pay a bit more for a pillow than you would, say, at a major retailer, her items are still affordable given all that is involved in producing them locally.

When I spend a week at the Liberty Hotel in Boston over the summer, I noticed several of her pillows on the sofas in their lobby. I remember glancing down thinking that the pillow was so beautiful and somehow familiar to me. I flipped it over to see the Simplemente Blanco label and thought, "But of course". I think that with the attention being more on handmade, beautifully made and of course, made locally that anyone would love and appreciate her line. Fernanda is a truly special, magical kind of lady and her products reflect who she is - she is very genuine and warm at heart. Fernanda's home and products have been featured in many magazines and her collection is sold at fine retailers in the U.S. and Canada and someday here in Germany when I open a shop!

(images: simplemente blanco)